LORAIN — Amanda Cassidy-Sanchez didn’t think it was too soon at all Saturday afternoon to be looking at schools for her 5-week-old daughter, Isabella.
She wanted information on Lorain’s new magnet school plan — the same plan that helped her as a young student.

Years ago, when Lowell Elementary operated as an art magnet school, Cassidy-Sanchez got a head start on her career in graphic design.

“I remember what all those art and dance and drama classes did for me,” the 28-year-old Southview High graduate said. “My daughter’s going to have that in a few years now, too.”

More than 100 parents drifted from table to table Saturday in the General Johnnie Wilson Middle School gym. At each stop, teachers explained how the new school programs would let students focus on engineering, music, art, computers and reading.

“I hope it works,” said Vicenzo Bratulic, who was looking at options for his 16-year-old son, Gregory, and his
13-year-old daughter, Ariana.

Ariana said she wants to be a veterinarian, and she’s excited that the new magnet program will give her more control over what she gets to study.
That’s the whole point, Lorain Schools Superintendent Cheryl Atkinson said.

“When children are attached to school, the learning comes naturally. Kids need to follow their passions, whether they are reading or the arts or math,” she said.

Aliceson Humphries, principal at Whittier Middle School, said magnet schools will re-energize students who want a more interactive education than lectures and textbooks can offer.

“Don’t just sit me in front of a teacher and make me take notes. Make me stand up. Make me do experiments. Make me paint a picture. Make me dance. That’s what kids are saying,” Humphries said.

Atkinson said there was a line waiting to get in before the doors opened Saturday, and many of the parents wanted to know about switching their children from charter and parochial schools back to the public schools.

The magnet programs — all seven of them, plus two accelerated academies and two Montessori schools — will launch in September. Applications to enroll are due April 15.

Atkinson said this is the first step in giving the ailing Lorain Schools new direction. It’s all made possible by a $10 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education.
 

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